Top Chef: Early Bird Special

Bravo TV’s “Top Chef” is paying tribute to the restaurant world’s elders in the upcoming “Top Chef Masters” (premieres Monday, June 10th @ 10pm on Bravo – TWC Ch. 59). OK, so they’re not as ancient as I’m making them out to be (seriously, “Early Bird Special”?), but they’re years ahead of the typical crop of “Top Chef” contestants. Our contestants are 24 world-renown chefs competing against each other in the same “Top Chef” style challenges that we’ve seen the up-and-coming cooking folks take part in over the past five seasons of the popular Bravo series.

I looked over the contestant bio list and only recognized one person – the wily, Wylie Dufresne. And that’s only due to his appearance(s) as a guest-judge on past seasons of “Top Chef”. Seems I’m really out of the foodie loop, because these cast members have ridiculous cooking credentials: chef/owners of popular restaurants, award winners, authors, etc. They’re the creme de la creme, the cream of the crop, a who’s who of soup and stew, and other silly food-related cliches.

What about prizes? These folks are already successful in their industry, and I’ll assume they’re in good shape financially, so what are they competing for, besides kitchen bragging rights? In the grand tradition of celebrity reality shows, elimination winners will receive cash donations for the charity of their choice. How sweet is that?

I’m psyched that Bravo’s giving us some “Top Chef”-ish action to fill the gap until season six starts up. And it’s especially nice since we’ve reached summertime – TV’s traditional off-season. After all, I can only watch so many Yankee games before before upsetting the TV balance I have with my better half, who, by the way, wonders if a collection of serious chefs will make this show a bit too… serious. I can see that happening, at least to some extent, but I’m confident that the folks at “Top Chef” stirred in a few characters to keep things lively.

Can 24 successful chefs live together and compete against one another without driving each other crazy? Man, I hope not.